John William Austin (9 December 1910 – 8 March 1983) was an Australian rules football player for the South Melbourne Swans from 1930 to 1938, playing 140 games in the back-pocket and at full-back.

Austin was judged one of the best players in South Melbourne's 1933 premiership win over the Richmond Football Club.

[1] Austin was born in Boort in country Victoria, and grew up in Montague in inner-south-suburban Melbourne, where he excelled at various sports, including swimming and foot-running as well as winning trophies in the local district football competition.

Austin was a fast, hard-tackling, high-marking player, and stylish right-footed kicker, versatile in competing in both defence and around the ground play.

The suburban newspaper, the Sandringham News, profiled Austin's 1955 candidacy in a full-page article headlined "Victoria's Chifley".